Governance Initiative

J-PAL’s Governance Initiative (GI) funds randomized evaluations of interventions designed to improve participation in the political and policy process, reduce corruption and leakages, and strengthen state capacity. GI is now accepting proposals for full projects, pilots, and travel/proposal development grants for Spring 2019. All proposals should be submitted to GI@povertyactionlab.org by Friday, March 22 (11:59pm ET). Funding decisions will be announced in mid-May.

By providing targeted funding for rigorous evaluations of the most promising programs to improve governance, GI aims to offer guidance for implementing organizations, governments, and donors, so that policies can be guided by scientific evidence to improve development outcomes.

GI has two regular funding cycles per year for full research projects, pilot studies, and travel/proposal development grants that address open questions outlined in the Governance Initiative Review Paper. RFPs are released in June and December, and funding decisions are announced in November and May. Each proposal is reviewed by three referees: an academic reviewer, a policy expert, and a member of the GI Review Board. The Review Board makes final funding decisions. J-PAL affiliates, J-PAL post-docs, and invited researchers are eligible to apply. PhD students, with support from an adviser who is a J-PAL affiliate or GI-invited researcher, are also eligible to apply for travel/proposal development grants and up to $50,000 for a pilot or full-scale study.

GI also offers funding outside of the regular RFPs. These grants are intended for research projects that face a significant time constraint and need to receive funding before the end of a regular funding round to make use of an unanticipated opportunity (e.g. a newly announced policy change that will go into effect soon, creating an opportunity for a randomized evaluation). Proposals must clearly justify the need to receive a decision on an expedited schedule. The maximum amount awarded to off-cycle proposals is $50,000.

Review paper

The Review Paper summarizes rigorous empirical evidence on governance issues in low-income countries and identifies new directions for research. The Review Paper is currently being revised to include a new section on improving state capacity, based on the chapter "The Personnel Economics of the Developing State" in the Handbook of Field Experiments Volume II (North Holland, 2017) by Frederico Finan, Ben Olken, and Rohini Pande.